


Apple of my eye

by FoxyRainbow



Series: Walk me home [4]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: M/M, ThunderIron - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:26:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22562473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FoxyRainbow/pseuds/FoxyRainbow
Summary: "Thoughts like that go through your mind, when you're at a certain age and you meet somebody likeyou.Somebody that makes youfeelcertain things and think certain ways.Makes you realize there were dreams for a lifetime, somewhere in the back of your head.""This is a bad breakup speech, my star," the god's lips curved into a grin as he brought Tony's hand to them."The matter at hand is," Tony continued, "I can offer you, what, twenty years? If I'm lucky. Twenty years, during which you get to watch me turn into an old decrepit man."
Relationships: Tony Stark/Thor
Series: Walk me home [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1538251
Comments: 7
Kudos: 163





	Apple of my eye

**Author's Note:**

> So tumblr user [dragonnan](https://dragonnan.tumblr.com/) made a post about [Tony's palladium poisoning in the second Iron Man movie, its symptoms and its long lasting side effects.](https://dragonnan.tumblr.com/post/185762932235/some-tony-stark-meta)
> 
> It's a very interesting, well-researched read and when my girlfriend showed it to me, my mind started going _fix it fix it fix it fix it_ and well, some more ThunderIron was produced.  
> It also kept circling in my head and wouldn't stop until I wrote it, so here we go.
> 
> Complete standalone, no knowledge of the plot of the rest of 'Walk me Home' needed - it's simply going in here 'cause I guess this is where I'll be putting all my ThunderIron for the foreseeable future.

"When we started getting serious, I thought I should warn you about what you were signing up for."

Tony closed his hand and the hologram's blue light was snuffed out in his palm.  
With the presentation over, JARVIS was turning the lights back on.

"Yes, I synthesized the Starkonium. Yes, my palladium poisoning days were over."

The god's eyes followed him as he paced, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably. 

"That doesn't mean I'm healed and well, though. Palladium poisoning has lasting effects - chronic pain, for one," the ghost of a bitter smile curved his lips.  
"Muscle cramps, mental issues, multiple internal organ concerns," he looked down, gestured broadly at himself. "I won't bore you with the details."

He turned on his heels, intent on continuing his pacing, to find Thor standing behind him.  
"Don't do that, don't _creep up_ like that," he protested while the amused god wrapped his arms around his waist.  
"A man your size should make some noise."  
"I'm sorry darling, I'll do my best to stomp when approaching you," the blond promised. 

He ran his hands up and down Tony's back, gently. The smaller man closed his eyes, pressed his forehead on his chest.

" _This_ is going to be my reality, as far as I know, for the rest of my life. I'll get older, I'll get worse."

The closer he got to the conclusion of this conversation, the reason he had shown Thor that presentation in the first place, the farther away he thought he was supposed to be standing from him.  
But his god was warm, strong, _safe_ and he couldn't bring himself to pull away from his embrace.

Thor buried his nose in messy brown hair.  
"You're a brave man, dealt a bad hand in life," he said and pressed a kiss on the top of Tony's head.  
"You've been through too much, my poor heart."  


"You're making this _so_ much harder," the inventor muttered.

He took a step back, pushing his partner away gently. Thor's arms were left hanging in the air for a few moments as Tony left them.

"You told me that when you took Jane to Asgard, your father said illness is a mortal's defining trait. Now, I don't think I _like_ your father based on what I've heard about him. I can tell you I disagree with his parenting methods," he shrugged, looking apologetically up at Thor, who would look almost amused if his eyes weren't narrowed, "But I have to say, on that one, horrible thing, he was absolutely right."

"There was no _cure_ for Jane's ailment, not in Asgard, not anywhere else. For her _mortality_ and all its pains though, there was a cure," he offered Tony his hand. "There _is_ a cure."

The smaller man examined him silently, curiously, from his expression, to his stance, to the outstretched hand he had a hard time denying. 

"I'll get right back on that, but it seems you have something to say first," the god said gently.

"After that thought regarding what you're really getting into and what _I_ should do about it passed through my head, I took a good look at myself," Tony continued.  
"Then, I took a good look at you. I realized how much I wished I could have a chance on a life with you." 

He was in Thor's arms again, looking up into smiling blue eyes.  
"Thoughts like that go through your mind, when you're at a certain age and you meet somebody like _you_.  
Somebody that makes you _feel_ certain things and think certain ways.  
Makes you realize there were dreams for a lifetime, somewhere in the back of your head."

"This is a bad breakup speech, my star," the god's lips curved into a grin as he brought Tony's hand to them.  
"The issue here is," Tony continued, "I can offer you, what, twenty years? If I'm lucky. Twenty years, during which you get to watch me turn into an old decrepit man."

"Do you assume my love is so shallow wrinkles and gray hair would erase it?" there was a soft rumble in the god's voice.

Tony exhaled sharply and cupped Thor's face in both hands.  
"I'm not _well_ , I'm only going to get worse. I will take my pills, I will bear the pain, that is going to be my reality.  
I will forever strive to be better, to _do_ better, but my body is failing," he explained. 

Thor covered Tony's hands with his own, pushed his fingers between his lover's. He turned his head, buried the lower part of his face in the man's palm.

"You live for thousands of years. What I have to give feels like _seconds_ compared to that; _and that would be fine_ ," he said pointedly, as he noticed the god was about to protest,  
"If these seconds were going to be as amazing as you deserve. But they won't be. I'm not selfish enough to keep you, just because I want to, when I know what's coming."

His mouth was dry; there was a _pull_ in his chest, a pain he wasn't quite used to.  
He wanted to take the words back now, before their damage was done - but he had no right to, when Thor deserved better.

"That was all I had to say, at least until you mentioned _curing mortality_ ," he found Thor's eyes again.  


"There are certain things a god is born with. An innate power, like, oh, commanding thunder," Thor began, puffing up just a little more with every word.  
A small smile appeared on Tony's face.  
"His good looks, his killer charm and many more," the god continued, pulling away from his partner just so he could give him a quick, theatrical bow.

"Get to the point, Prince Charming," he sounded tired, but there was tenderness in his smile.  
"There are other things he needs to get from his environment. One of them, is the means to a long, healthy life. One where illness is rare.  
Your texts and stories weren't perfectly accurate, but you did catch a few importang things; if you know anything about us, you may have heard about Idunn and her apples."

Silence fell, as Thor allowed Tony to comprehend his words and chew on the dramatic impact.

"Of all the crazy things we could have gotten right, it was _golden immortality apples_?!" the smaller man widened his eyes.  
"How could they possibly work? What kind of _soil_ do plant the trees in? How many people do they sustain? Is this Idunn person-"

"Darling," Thor interrupted him with a chuckle. "We can bring back an extra one for you to study, but we're going to have to keep it a _secret_.  
A very, very well-kept secret, lest my people decide it's due time for another banishment. The point is," his arms were around his lover's waist once again, "There is a way to wash the poison out of your body. For good."

He had questions, he needed specifications. Most of all, he didn't want to allow himself any sense of relief, or worse yet, _hope_. 

He didn't need the false hope, Thor didn't need the false hope, especially not when there was no real, substantial evidence a piece of shiny fruit was the answer to his problems.  
_Some_ of his problems.

"I'm not asking you to extend your life, make it as long as mine," the god continued, pushing the smaller man's hair back and away from his forehead.  
"It would be a lie to say I don't wish to have you in my arms for thousands of years, but that's a commitment I won't ask of you."

There was a look in Tony's eyes, a look he couldn't quite read.  
Hope? Gratitude, perhaps?  
Whatever it was, it made the eyes he loved look even brighter than usual.

"One apple is hardly a price to pay to better my love's life."

"Babe, we don't know it's going to work for sure-"  
"What do you have to lose?"  
"Nothing, but we need to manage our expectations. Mine, especially.  
There's a lot of shit to counter here and even _if_ we handle the damage that already shows, I could still get cancer in two years," he shook his head.

"Come with me to Asgard. Let my father make his comments about goats or pigs, I don't care. I'll get Eir to look at you.  
We can fix whatever the poison did, we can _prevent_ anything else that was going to come; darling, there's no earthly disease we can't beat," the excitement in his voice was pallpable. Tony's heart was racing.

"I _refuse_ to manage my expectations, I am going to manage the world. If the apples don't work, I'll travel the universe to find something better.  
I'd do it for an eternity with you, I'd do it for twenty better years, I'd do it for one!"

His joy was contagious and Tony caught himself smiling.  
"I don't want you to do any of that. I just wanted to be able to make you _happy_ , to spend whatever time we may have _well_."

"Do you doubt that I would reach the ends of the universe for you?"  
"You won't reach anything _for_ me, you'll reach everything _with_ me," Tony corrected him and the joy painting Thor's features somehow made the god's face even more beautiful.  
" _Yes!_ " Thor exclaimed. " _That_ is all I could ever want!"

His lover was now laughing and Thor cupped his face, pulled him into a kiss.  
When it was over and Tony was left breathless, Thor rested his forehead on his lover's.

"There is one thing I need you to understand."

Tony glanced up, into baby blue eyes.

"Even if there was nothing I could do, if the universe's most foul beast poisoned you and I could only watch your pain, I wouldn't want you to send me away.  
You want me to be happy, you're looking out for my peace of mind, I know," he nodded along every word, silencing Tony's arguments before he had the chance to voice them. 

"If some day your feelings change, you can tell me to go. If I hurt you, if you don't want me around, if anything changes _this_ , I will listen, I will understand, I'll let my heart break and I'll go.  
Send me away because we're over, love, not because you don't want me to endure your pain."

Tony was already vigorously shaking his head, before Thor was done talking.

"I'm a selfish man, I'm not that selfish. I won't chain you by my side and have you watch me get _worse_ -"  
"I'm a warrior," Thor interrupted him, shrugging. "Tomorrow, I get a terrible chest wound, or I lose a leg. I survive, but the pain stays with me. Should I tell you to leave?"

"How is that in _any way_ similar?" Tony exclaimed.  
"In every way," Thor pressed his hand over the ever-glowing light on Tony's chest.  
"These are your war wounds and you are the strongest warrior I've met."

Tony pressed his forehead on Thor's chest again, wrapped his arms around his god's waist.

"If I was a better man, I would fight you on this. Here we are, one _failed_ breakup attempt and I'm a wreck."

As his mind calmed, his body relaxed into his partner's embrace, he realized how exhausted he was.  
The ever-present sense of pressure in his chest felt a little worse than usual and his back decided now was the best time to remind him how sore it liked being.

"I'm just the guy in the suit, who still can't figure how he landed you."

Thor bent sideways, wrapping his left arm around Tony's back, tucking his right one under his knees and picked him up, bridal style. 

"You never were, or ever will be _just_ the 'guy in the suit'."

**Author's Note:**

> Something's up with the formatting and no matter how I try to change them, some phrases seem to cut off at the edge of the screen in weird points (at least in my computer, with my font and letter size etc), even when it looks much smoother in my txt file.  
> That was not intentional and I hope it doesn't ruin your enjoyment of the story.


End file.
